Šahy

Šahy is a small town in southern Slovakia, set on the river Ipeľ at the Hungarian border, on the E77 road that links Budapest with Kraków. Its Hungarian name is Ipolyság, and Hungarians form the majority of its residents, which gives the town a distinctly bilingual character in the Nitra Region and the Levice District. The municipality lies at an altitude of 135 metres on the eastern edge of the Danubian Lowland and covers about 51 square kilometres, including the former villages of Preseľany nad Ipľom and Tešmák. The first written mention dates from 1237, when a Premonstratensian monastery was founded there. Šahy spent long periods under Ottoman rule, served as the seat of Hont County from 1806, and passed to Czechoslovakia after 1918. Today it is home to the Hont Museum and a gallery named for Ľudovít Simony, and it is twinned with three towns in Hungary.